Capcom 'analyzing' Resident Evil 6's disappointing sales

With five million copies shipped so far, Resident Evil 6 is by no means a failure for Capcom. However, it has repeatedly been called a disappointment by the publisher, who expected the game to ship upwards of seven million units. What could account for such a sharp decline from its initially projected sales?

"We are currently analyzing the causes, which involve our internal development operations and sales operations. We have not yet reached a clear conclusion," Capcom told investors.

"We believe that global sales of 5 million units are proof that this is a popular title. However, we believe that the new challenges we tackled at the development stage were unable to sufficiently appeal to users," the statement continued. Capcom did say that Resident Evil 6 was designed to appeal to a "mass-market" audience--which is reflected on the game's focus on action, and not necessarily traditional horror.

"In addition, we believe there was inadequate organizational collaboration across our entire company with regard to marketing, promotions, the creation of plans and other activities. We will have to examine these results from several perspectives. We will reexamine our internal operating frameworks in order to identify areas that need to be improved concerning development as well as sales and administrative operations," the publisher concluded.

Oddly, there seems to be no mention of the lackluster reception of the game--by both critics and fans.